Chapter 195
Many major news events happen around the world every day. Plamia's incident was lively for a while but was quickly overshadowed by other news.
Especially in Japan, foreigners were still somewhat conspicuous, and everyone speculated that Plamia had probably already escaped abroad long ago, so they relaxed their vigilance early.
However, because Plamia's identity was investigated and exposed in Japan, bombers within Japan suddenly became much quieter, seemingly worried about becoming the next target to be exposed. For a time, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit entered a rare period of leisure.
Therefore, when bomb experts from the FBI invited these Japanese acquaintances to play in America and attend bomb-related seminars, even Matsuda Jinpei—who always complained that going out with Samukawa Shinryu easily led to encountering cases—agreed to go to America together.
Usuha Izuki complained: "Not afraid of encountering cases this time?"
Matsuda Jinpei had originally only been joking with friends when he said those things. Now hearing the complaint, he just lit a cigarette and said quietly: "That's America."
Usuha Izuki: "..."
Hagiwara Kenji: "..."
Mm, that made sense. Anything could happen in America... It just felt like it went from an ordinary joke to a dark humor joke...
In any case, there was no resistance from the Japanese police regarding the FBI's invitation. They said they'd give them a vacation and were so generous they even reimbursed their plane tickets.
Inspector Megure mainly felt that Samukawa Shinryu seemed increasingly impatient about being a police officer and hoped this vacation would improve his mood... The Metropolitan Police couldn't do without Samukawa Shinryu!
This time it was still Hagiwara Kenji's sister driving them to the airport.
Unlike the cheerful conversation all the way last time, this time Hagiwara Chihaya was a bit paranoid. Even when traffic jams lasted a bit longer, she suspected they'd encountered another case. She'd obviously been tormented by her brother and his friends' accident-prone constitution over the past two years. Fortunately, they safely boarded the plane this time and safely landed in America.
"Welcome!" The FBI bomb expert warmly greeted them at the airport. "Long time no see, Samukawa! And Matsuda and Hagiwara!"
Usuha Izuki calmly shook hands with him: "Long time no see."
The bomb expert had originally wanted to follow up the handshake with a hug, but after glancing at Samukawa Shinryu, he inconspicuously modified his action: "I'm always the one going to Japan—you should come to America more often!"
"Work is too busy."
"Sigh, true. You have too few vacation days." The bomb expert sighed.
The three foreigners suddenly fell silent.
The bomb expert shook hands with Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei, then led them: "I drove here. Come on, are you hungry?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Actually, the one who communicated most frequently with this bomb expert was Matsuda Jinpei, who was still in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit. His English had improved dramatically, and even his accent had gotten much better: "We already ate on the plane. Let's go to the hotel to drop off luggage first."
"OK." The bomb expert helpfully stuffed their luggage into the trunk. Once everyone was seated, he started driving.
While driving, the bomb expert chatted: "Technology has developed too fast these years, and those bombers' minds turn quickly too. Many people's thinking is still stuck a dozen years ago—that won't work. Having everyone exchange ideas at meetings is a good thing."
Hagiwara Kenji raised a question: "...What if bombers also come to attend the meeting? Might they get some inspiration?"
The bomb expert said: "Those attending the meeting are all active police officers and university professors from various countries... If there are criminals among them anyway, having this meeting or not makes little difference. It's like how the FBI often gives lectures or exchanges at other police departments and universities—should we not do it because we're afraid there might be criminals among the students?... Oh, it seems someone did encounter one when giving a university lecture before..."
Everyone: "..."
Truly America—criminals everywhere.
Perhaps seeing Matsuda Jinpei's face full of desire to complain through the rearview mirror, the bomb expert quickly said: "Actually, America isn't that dangerous! It's just individual people—"
Before he finished speaking, the bus in front of them suddenly exploded.
Bomb expert: "...........Uh."
Everyone: "...???"
This unprecedented speed of being slapped in the face left everyone stunned for a moment.
"...OK, OK, I get it." The bomb expert muttered as he stopped the car. "This is America. Welcome to America."
The car was full of police officers. Although three of them were foreign police, having an FBI agent with them gave them some reason to intervene in the case.
Before local police arrived on scene, the few of them took charge of scene command, including evacuation and reassurance.
In an immigrant country, having Asian faces among police wasn't unusual. Seeing they seemed very experienced, the crowd instinctively obeyed—Usuha Izuki didn't get out of the car. He was asked to stay in the vehicle, worried that some gun-carrying, stimulated person might misunderstand upon seeing him and accidentally fire.
Only after everyone had calmed down and local police finally arrived to take over did Usuha Izuki finally get out of the bomb expert's car and walk toward the exploded bus.
The police had already been briefed, so seeing Usuha Izuki getting out with his "Black Screen Aura" activated, none of them impulsively pointed guns at him.
But the police officers' expressions were still quite subtle.
Uh... said to be an expert from abroad attending a meeting... an expert borrowed from a foreign prison?
Like Hannibal in "The Silence of the Lambs"—the kind of expert in prison who police occasionally consulted?
Usuha Izuki nodded to his foreign colleagues, then followed the bomb expert onto the vehicle: "What's the situation?"
"Take a look at this umbrella..."
Just as the bomb expert was about to say something, he noticed new cars stopping nearby and several familiar people getting out: "Wait, my colleagues are here."
This time, it wasn't ordinary police who arrived, but people from a department within the FBI called the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). Through investigating and analyzing crimes, they provided investigative opinions, criminal profiling, etc. It was quite a special department that could profile criminals' age, gender, and various tendencies just from a pile of data... appearing quite mystical in many police officers' eyes.
After arriving at the scene, they were also surprised to see the bomb expert: "Joseph? What are you doing here?"
The bomb expert smiled bitterly and pointed at his car: "Driving by, picking up friends for a meeting. I just told them America wasn't that dangerous, then that bus suddenly exploded right in front of me..."
BAU people: "..........."
They nodded somewhat awkwardly at Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji.
"That was an accident. We hope it didn't affect your impression of America..."
As they were speaking, the BAU people suddenly noticed the young man walking out of the exploded vehicle.
He had nearly pitch-black short hair that showed hidden blue tints in the sunlight's reflection. After walking out, his dark red eyes swept over them once.
Originally the sun was blazing and the light bright enough to feel oppressive, but when this person appeared, something cold seemed to spread with his approach, as if dark clouds had blocked the sun, making everyone inexplicably feel a shiver.
As if knowing what everyone would think, the bomb expert quickly stepped forward to introduce: "This is also a foreign expert I just picked up from the airport. He definitely has nothing to do with this case... Just call him Samukawa. Samukawa, these are my FBI colleagues."
BAU people's mouths twisted for a moment.
What kind of expert?! A foreign version of Hannibal?! And you let an outsider directly enter the scene...
But forget it. Someone who just arrived in America had no connections anywhere, and being an expert in this field, accessing this case should be fine. Maybe he could really help somehow.
The bomb expert tried to change the subject: "Samukawa, did you notice anything?"
Usuha Izuki adjusted his gloves: "Simple structure. Usable parts can be dismantled from remote-control toys—just connect a motor to a detonator. The shrapnel used was dried peas, not very lethal. Mainly the explosive's effect. The perpetrator probably didn't want to cause large-scale casualties and likely had other purposes. Besides here, other places will be attacked. I suggest heightening vigilance."
The first part could be considered analysis a bomb expert should have, but the latter part leaned toward areas the BAU should be responsible for.
"How do you know?" someone from BAU asked curiously.
Usuha Izuki pointed inside the vehicle: "There's a mark on the pipe—like a robot pierced by an arrow. Someone who makes this kind of mark definitely won't stop after just one case... I noticed this bus seems to have smart systems installed. The perpetrator's purpose might be anti-technology. The bomb was installed in an umbrella. I suggest checking if any passengers were related and whether this umbrella was originally placed near such a person..."
Noticing these American police officers' expressions becoming increasingly subtle, Usuha Izuki appropriately stopped his analysis: "I'm just speaking casually. You should investigate however you normally would."
"...No, thank you very much. Your analysis sounds very reasonable." BAU people said. "This case came to us because it might become serial crimes... Your analysis saved us a lot of time."
BAU people expressed their gratitude. Someone immediately got on the vehicle to search for the marked pipe Usuha Izuki mentioned, while others went to communicate the situation with local police on scene. One person remained to continue talking with them.
The bomb expert felt that now that his colleagues had arrived, he didn't need to stay at the scene with his guests—this was really quite rude. So he indicated that Usuha Izuki and the others should get in the car first while he chatted with his colleague for a bit more.
Once they were alone, Derek Morgan, the handsome black man from BAU, couldn't help asking the bomb expert: "What kind of meeting are you actually holding?"
Bomb expert: "Uh, bomb-related of course..."
Morgan's mouth twitched: "...He doesn't seem like just a bomb expert."
"He's actually more of a detective, just happens to know a lot about bombs." The bomb expert's tone carried some pride. "That perfect bomb in Hawaii a few years ago used his stolen design. With him in America, if you encounter any tough bomb cases, you're in luck."
Morgan: "..........."
Actually a detective... Foreign police selection standards are so casual... This could pass an interview?... And what do you mean 'in luck'... Not having any bomb-related cases at all would be truly lucky! You bomb enthusiast, don't you have any common sense? Stop giving people such blessings!
But a bomb-related seminar being held in America...
Morgan felt a wave of unease.
Although he himself was American and it wasn't good to say this, he felt like the debuffs seemed fully stacked. Surely nothing would happen, right?